


Ache

by wanderingstoryteller



Series: Spots of Time [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Being a Woman is Hard, Discussion of Sanitary Products, F/F, Honest Discussion of Mestruation, Menstruation, Yaz Crushing on the Doctor so Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 21:01:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18290165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingstoryteller/pseuds/wanderingstoryteller
Summary: The Doctor gets her first period a couple weeks after regenerating and Yaz offers advice.





	Ache

**Author's Note:**

> I'm starting a new series. It's going to mostly be cute little ficlets that follow Yaz and the Doctor's courtship and early relationship. 
> 
> If you've wandered over from my other series 'No one ever said this life would be simple,' I think you will probably like this one as well. There may be some common elements although this one is not a/o/b. The fics will be short, upbeat and really focuses on the start of a relationship instead of the heart of it.

They were less than a month into their travels with the Doctor when she appeared at the breakfast table looking absolutely miserable. She had her lean shoulders hunched and a hand on her abdomen.

“Doc, you feeling okay? Asked Graham carefully.

“Fine, right as rain,” she said and then winced.

“You’re not fine,” said Yaz. “Come on spit it out, if your ecto-spleen is acting up again you need to rest.”

“Not the spleen, just new body issues, not sure what’s up.”

“What kind of issues?” asked Graham. “Do we need to take you to see a doctor? Er, do Time Lords have regular doctors? You’re not one, in spite of the name, are you?”

The Doctor ignored that comment and just stared at her Weetabix without interest. “It might have something to do with being a woman. I don’t know, I’ve never been one before. Are breasts supposed to be swollen and hurt? I’ve always been a fan of breasts, mind you, but I didn’t realized they caused their owners pain.”

She poked at that part of her anatomy causing Graham to slightly raise a worried eyebrow and Ryan to look away.

Yaz on the other hand just looked amused. “Let me guess you’re cramping in your lower abdomen and are feeling moody. Might be feeling a bit bloated as well? Any lower back pain?”

The Doctor blinked. “Yaz, you're brilliant. How did you know all that?”

“It sounds like you’ve got PMS. You’re probably about to get your period,” said Yaz.

“Wait, does being a woman mean I have to do that?”

“Depends, do female Time Lords have a menstrual cycle?”

The Doctor blushed. “Er, I sort of don’t actually know. There is kind of a taboo in Time Lord society about talking about that kind of thing and since I’ve always been male…” She held up two open palms in a helpless gesture.

“You did say you’ve traveled with humans before,” said Yaz. “At least one of them has mentioned menstruation right? I mean humans in my time period do talk about this, at least some do.”

“Yea human females shed their uterine lining once a month. I looked it up when I first came to earth. The book didn’t say anything about feeling like I’m going to burst into tears and also wanting to murder everyone at the same time.” She scrunched up her nose which made her look not so much murderous as huggable.

“Clearly wasn’t a very informative book,” commented Graham.

Ryan gave him an odd look.

Graham shrugged. “I’m a straight man in my sixties. I’ve been in enough relationships with women to have heard a fair amount on the matter of monthlies. I’ve never been murdered so I must have done something right. I can tell you lot all about menopause and the heat flashes Grace had to deal with but I doubt you want to hear about that.”

There was an awkward pause. Yaz took control of the conversation. “Right. Doctor you come have a word with me. Graham, Ryan, I guess you two do the washing up.”

She and the Doctor went to sit in the TV room on the Doctor’s newly purchased second hand purple couch. A half hour later the Doctor looked even more perplexed than she had before they had begun to talk.

“So in summary my best options are to stick a tulip shaped plastic cup in my vagina or wear fancy blood absorbing underwear?”

“Yea pretty much.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about putting a menstrual cup in my vagina. I mean, I just got one of my own for the first time and I’m still sort of figuring it out.”

“I guess they have a bit of a learning curve. Tampons are a bit easier and can be thrown away.”

The Doctor pursed her lips, “You said you don’t use those since you’re allergic to them.”

“I think it’s some chemical they use to bleach the cotton.”

The Doctor drew her legs up to herself and hugged them. “And I’m supposed to put something like that in a mucous membrane?”  

“When you put it like that.” Yaz frowned.  On one level she was just amazed that the Doctor knew what a mucous membranes but not sanitary products.“I think some companies make unbleached ones. Anyway, I know this is all new and weird to you. Let’s not worry about internal stuff for now. All we need to do is pop by Boots and buy you some pads.”

“What about the fancy undies, those sound easy.”

“Yea but they can take a week to ship and you need something sooner.”

“This is a time machine.”

 

The Doctor did not handle it very well when her period finally hit. It was almost comical that the same woman, who had refused to rest after regenerating and would not even lie still very long after being blown to bits by a sonic mine, spent an entire afternoon on the couch complaining that everything hurt and was terrible.

Yaz brought her a hot pad, chocolate, aspirin, and a fluffy blanket. The Doctor quickly explained that aspirin was deadly to her but said she could take ibuprofen. She was happy to accept the chocolate, hot pad, and fluffy blanket. The rest of Team TARDIS settled into the TV room and they spent the afternoon watching old sci-fi movies.

They each got to pick one. Yaz went with _Aliens_ . The Doctor said the title was offensive but agreed the Ripley was indeed very awesome. Graham went with the _Star Wars: A New Hope_ and Ryan chose the _Matrix_. They were all a little confused when the Doctor wanted to watch _Plan 9 from Outer Space_ but she insisted that it was the most classic sci-fi move that earth ever produced. No one was convinced but it was still fun in a campy way.

After a dinner of takeout Chinese that they didn’t have to wait for since they just hopped ahead in time to pick up, everyone started to get tired. Graham and Ryan headed off to bed. Yaz was sleepy but she was also very comfy. She had about half the fluffy blanket and was very contently curled up on her side of the couch.

“Are you feeling any better?” she asked the Doctor.

“A bit, I still feels like an organ made of muscles is clenching up inside of me.”

“That is because one is.”

“Do women really do this every month, because I’m not sure I want to do this again.”

“It’s not like we get much choice in the matter. Some birth controls will let you have fewer periods or even stop them completely but results vary. If aspirin will kill you, I’m not sure if human birth control is even safe for you. Do Time Lord women use some kind of birth control?”

“Maybe? A long time ago when I was with a Time Lady named Romana, she said she’d taken steps and we didn’t need to worry about her getting pregnant. I never asked what she did, looking back I probably should have.” She did look a bit embarrassed. “Not that it matters anyway, I’d rather not go back to Gallifrey if I can help. I stole another TARDIS the last time I was there.”

Another thought occurred to Yaz. “Just to check, you’re aware that being a woman probably means you can get pregnant...if you um…” she trailed off.

The Doctor looked down at her blanket, hot pad, and pajama covered stomach. “Wow, I didn’t really think about that.” Then she shrugged, “Not sure there’s really any risk of that actually,  I don’t think I’m actually interested in men this regeneration.”

Yaz tried very hard to ignore the way her own heart sped up. “Really?”

“Yea, this might be the first regeneration I’m just attracted to women. I’ve had two where I was only attracted to men and one where I had no sexual or romantic feelings at all.Usually I’ve just been bisexual. It’s never been just women before.” She finished with a shining smile. “This is going to be interesting.” The Time Lady yawned and stretched. “So what other stuff do I need to worry about? I mean beyond the loads of sexism we keep running into and such.”

“Lots of stuff I guess.” Having spent her entire existence with one face and body, Yaz felt ill equipped to explain the entire challenge of being a woman to someone who had literally just become one. Should she start with bra sizes, how to respond to catcalling, or how to use those plastic grippy things that made jars easier to open? The task seemed monumental. “Maybe just come talk to me as stuff comes up and you have questions.”

The Doctor gave her another brilliant grin. “You really mean it?”

“Yea. Totally.”

The Doctor stood, “Thank you, you’re so awesome.”

The hug caught Yaz by surprise. It wasn’t the first time the Doctor had hugged her but it was the first time she had when they were alone. The Doctor held her long enough this time that Yaz could feel how her skin was cooler than any human she had ever touched. She regretted the loss of contact when the Doctor drew back.

“Right, big day tomorrow, best go get some sleep. Hopefully I’ll be up to adventuring again by then.”

“Where are we going to tomorrow?”

“There is this little restaurant at the end of the universe. They’ve got the best, well you'll see.”

And just like that the Doctor was gone. Yaz knew she could go back to bed but her single human heart was still beating a little too fast in her chest. She sat back on the couch and drew the fuzzy blanket around herself. It still smelled like the Doctor, an oddly wonderful mix of engine grease and vanilla. When she closed her eyes, for just an instant, she could feel the Doctor’s arms back around her and everything was good.

 


End file.
